Not even Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks can rescue a bad script. I’m surprised their agents even signed off on this mess. Actually, they didn’t sign off on it — Tom Hanks wrote and produced it, which explains how it hit the big screen. Actors often become too big for their own good, and there’s no one willing to break unfortunate truths to them. So here’s the truth — the movie is terrible. Tom Hanks plays Larry Crowne, a navy veteran who gets laid off from his retail job because of his lack of education. He decides to go back to school, where he takes a speech class with Mrs. Tainot, played by Julia Roberts. It’s unclear what Larry Crowne hopes to learn from Mrs. Tainot, given that she’s an extremely unlikable professor who’s miserable with both her personal and professional life. The problem with this film is that the characters have nothing to offer. Crowne is misguided, and he seems to have no particular skill of note. If he served in the Navy as a cook, then why isn’t he running a restaurant? Furthermore, why would Tainot ever be interested in him or vice versa? She’s a terrible teacher with a crummy attitude, and he’s a bit of a loser. In fact, I wasn’t even sure these two even liked one another until they started kissing, which was so confusing and random, I found myself rolling my eyes. I presume the original intention of the script was to have two lost souls fall in love and help one another move forward with their lives — but that’s not what came across. Instead, it was two lost souls that felt like making out once or twice. OVERALL RATING: DISHASTER
Movie Review: Larry Crowne
Not even Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks can rescue a bad script. I’m surprised their agents even signed off on this mess. Actually, they didn’t sign off on it — Tom Hanks wrote and produced it, which explains how it hit the big screen. Actors often become too big for their own good, and there’s no one willing to break unfortunate truths to them. So here’s the truth — the movie is terrible. Tom Hanks plays Larry Crowne, a navy veteran who gets laid off from his retail job because of his lack of education. He decides to go back to school, where he takes a speech class with Mrs. Tainot, played by Julia Roberts. It’s unclear what Larry Crowne hopes to learn from Mrs. Tainot, given that she’s an extremely unlikable professor who’s miserable with both her personal and professional life. The problem with this film is that the characters have nothing to offer. Crowne is misguided, and he seems to have no particular skill of note. If he served in the Navy as a cook, then why isn’t he running a restaurant? Furthermore, why would Tainot ever be interested in him or vice versa? She’s a terrible teacher with a crummy attitude, and he’s a bit of a loser. In fact, I wasn’t even sure these two even liked one another until they started kissing, which was so confusing and random, I found myself rolling my eyes. I presume the original intention of the script was to have two lost souls fall in love and help one another move forward with their lives — but that’s not what came across. Instead, it was two lost souls that felt like making out once or twice. OVERALL RATING: DISHASTER